Copyright

Tag: government

Thriller fans and readers may be disappointed by Christopher Reich’s first book in the Jonathan Ransom series, Rules of Deception. The premise of the story is that Ransom’s wife dies in a mountaineering accident with Jonathan, but he soon finds that she is not who she seemed to be when alive. His decision to investigate this oddity, though only a medical doctor, thrusts him into the dark world world of espionage, terrorism, counter terrorism, and fanatical religious zealots.

It all appears to be a good recipe for a great thriller, except for several points. First, there are way too many implausible plot points. Second, at least for me, none of the main characters are very appealing or likeable, except for a Swiss policeman named von Daniken.

#Readers and fans of #UFO, alien, and #ancientaliens theories will find this a very interesting book. Col. Philip J. Corso (Ret.) offers the story of what transpired (his facts) from the point of the “alien vehicle” crash near Roswell, NM in July 1947 up through the mid-1980’s.

There is tremendous detail of the U.S. Army and the Foreign Technology unit that the author worked within, as well as many tangents from that. At times, the timeline and narrative facts get lost in the tangents and self-congratulatory prose.

Sadly, other than his word, Corso does not present any tangible evidence (for the doubters). In fact, the U.S. Army purposely chose to hide the advanced technology harvested at the Roswell crash site by sending it to tech companies, such as Hughes and Bell Laboratories, whereby these companies incorporated the alien technology into their ongoing projects. Thus, the true source of their innovations was hidden forever. All of this was orchestrated by the Army’s Foreign Technology unit, which was run by the author in the early 1960’s.

Another peculiar aspect about Corso’s story comes in the form of strong statements that aliens were threatening the U.S., especially military installations, as well as Earth and its inhabitants. However, the only evidence offered is reference to cattle mutilations and human abductions, along with what sound like alien recon activities. (To my mind, if the aliens wanted to attack or destroy us, then wouldn’t they have done it by now, certainly with their superior technology, especially prior to 1960.)

Much of what he relates about aliens visiting Earth matches what I’ve seen from other credible sources-some secret.

One extremely interesting tidbit Corso relates pertains to the development of the transistor. For details on this:

#Readers of #sci-fi will most likely enjoy this novel by esteemed scientist Carl Sagan, even if it is a bit dated by current standards. Written in the mid-1980s, the story revolves around Dr. Ellie Arroway and her connection to mathematics and the stars. These interests lead to a career in radio astronomy, especially working with the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), a field that the author worked in as well.

When a signal is received from the Vega star system by Ellie and her team, the forces for and against the revelation of more intelligent life forms in the galaxy shape up quickly and intensely. Some of the story parallels the 1997 movie version and parts of it were dropped or altered in the film. Overall, it offers a good exploration of the human reaction to such a discovery (assuming that this has not happened already, but is kept secret).

However, I found the book’s ending/resolution to be somewhat weak. Also, I am divided on whether I like the book or the movie better. Enjoy! 3 Stars.